What does it mean to be a 'daddy'?

• Actor Pedro Pascal was recently crowned the internet’s daddy.
• There is an app called Dream Daddy where players can date a daddy.
• My new book, Daddies of a Different Kind: Sex and Romance Between Older and Younger Adult Gay Men, investigates this topic.

What is a daddy?

• This mentorship involved a range of topics, from how to come out to family to how to advance in their careers.
• The connection between older and younger adult men was not just physical, it was emotional too.
• In contrast to stereotypes, there was little evidence of widespread power differentials that harmed either older or younger adult men.
• One reason why is that men viewed nurturance of younger adult men as key to daddyness.

Why are younger men interested in daddies?

• In addition to mentorship, younger adult men described a variety of reasons they enjoyed the company of older men.
• Yet the younger adult men I talked to desired older men for their emotional maturity and other non-financial traits.
• DaShawn (27) agreed: “Sometimes I feel like people my own age are immature.” Overall, the younger adult men felt like they connected better with older men.
• Those sorts of physical features I find really are the things that draw me most.” Younger adult men did not desire older men despite their appearance, but in part because of it.

Connecting generations

• Older-younger pairings between adults help to connect different generations of gay and bisexual men.
• “I feel like I am creating a connection with previous generations of queer people.
• Younger adult men can learn from older men what life was like for gay and bisexual men in prior decades.
• This shows that gay and bisexual men are more open to, or interested in, older-younger pairings between adults than other groups.